Restaurant-Quality French Fries At Home: Chef Secrets

Even heat circulation is crucial, and it's accomplished by adjusting the vents to let oxygen in and out and stacking the coals to create indirect and direct cooking zones. Charcoal does not consist of water, permitting it to reach those white-coal temperature levels that create the ideal sear on a steak or char on a cob of corn.

Sure, there are various types of charcoal grills, from barrel shaped to flat-tops. Even a fundamental Weber Original Kettle grill (top-rated in Consumer Reports' "Finest Charcoal Grills of 2020") can outperform the others merely based on its timeless shape, which is ideal for heat blood circulation.

If you want the highest-performing, most heat-efficient charcoal-burning grill on the marketplace and cost isn't a deterrent, consider a Kamado, whose models consist of The Big Green Egg (see opposite page). Fuel. Select swelling charcoal over briquettes. Lump burns hotter. Zerkel likewise likes to add smoking cigarettes (skilled wood) chips, which provide a more extreme, smoky flavor.

Expert 2026 BBQ Tips for Home Chefs

Forget the lighter fluid. Purchase a chimney. This hollow metal cylinder with a bottom grate holds the charcoal. You use newspaper and matches or an air-driven lighter to help the charcoal catch fire and never ever have food that tastes like lighter fluid. Photo by Aliza Baran Tighten up your poultry game.

Freddy's Frozen Custard & Steakburgers

One failsafe strategy is to choose thigh meat, which has more fat and therefore higher juiciness and flavor. Don't like dark meat? Purchase bone-in, skin-on breasts and prepare them thoroughly over indirect heat. Zerkel likewise advises marinading the breast ahead of time and butterflying it slicing open the breast to make two cutlets.

The way you cook this lean breast meat makes a difference, too. To keep it from losing its valuable juices, "I would burn it and move it to the cold side of the grill" to cook slowly, he says. He also buys whole chickens, cuts them up and has parts he can prepare differently grilled thighs, poached (in liquid on the stove) breasts for ramen.

Freddy's Frozen Custard & Steakburgers

Initially, season your meat with salt and let it come to room temperature. (You can even season it approximately eight hours before cooking and let it sit in the fridge.) Position the steak on the hottest part of the grate and scorch it for 2 to 3 minutes on each side.

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Move the meat to the cooler part of the grill to finish it off to whatever temperature you like. "I'll put a half-cabbage on the 'cold' side of the grill, get a good char on it, and it softens and ends up being something else" something terrific, he states.

He then places it cut side down and leaves it alone. "The crust it forms will also assist it different" from the grate without breaking down, he says. For cleaning, choose for a wire brush. Before using it each time, Zerkel scrapes the grate and cleans it down with oil.

Weber Original Kettle 26," $329 at Village Ace Hardware (2170 N. Prospect Ave.) Proponents declare the huge benefit is the flavor it imparts to food that enticing smoky taste. However Zerkel, an expert chef who's accustomed to utilizing a range's knobs and temperature controls with accuracy, likes this technique of cooking for its unpredictability.

Picture by Aliza Baran The Big Green Egg can bake, slow-smoke, saut and sear. If cost is no object, this grill just might be for you. Image courtesy of Didriks You may have become aware of this contraption a green, egg-shaped ceramic grill that can cook a pizza at 700 degrees in minutes and smoke a beef brisket at 220 degrees for 14 hours.

Freddy's Frozen Custard & Steakburgers

The Big Green Egg is a grilling investment that may make sense if you prepare to utilize it a lot. The Fein Brothers co-owner keeps his Egg in routine rotation in summertime.

Gourmet Dinner Ideas for Your 2026 Grill

The Egg does not need much charcoal, and for those who loathe cleaning grills, this one is low-maintenance. To purchase: Particularly fantastic for steaks, ground meat and pork ribs, bone-in roasts, chops.